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<,  ,\£-  JJ. 


>::-INFLUENCE  OF  PRESBYTER  I ANISM  UPON  CIVIL  LIBERTY-x- 


An  Address 

r       Delivered  at  First  Presbyterian  Churchy 
Raleigh^  North  Carolina, 
Sunday,  August  6,  1922. 


By  Frank  Nash. 


'/C     '.V-  -/C 


THE  FLOWERS  COLlEenON 

INFLUENCE  OF  PRESBYTER I AN ISM  UPON  CIVIL  LIBERTY 


There  is  in  the  Constitutions  of  some  of  the 
States  a  section  to  this  effect:  "A  frequent  re- 
currence to  fundamental  principles  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  preserve  the  blessings  of  liberty.'' 
This  i^  a  recognition  by  the  makers  of  these  Con- 
stitutions that  there  are  immutable  principles 
even  iri  the  science  of  government,  and  that  they 
are  not  to  be  modified  by  the  lapse  of  time,  or 
varied  by  changing  conditions-  If  this  is  true  in 
the  science  of  government,  much  more  is  it  true 
in  the  history  and  growth  of  the  Chin^ch.  My  ad- 
dress this  morning,  then,  is  largely  an  appeal  to 
some  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  its  subject  is  the 
Influence  of  Presbyterianism  upon  Civil  Liberty* 
Within  the  limit  assigned  myself,  I  can  deal  v/ith 
it  only  in  broad  outline. 

More  than  400  years  ago  there  was  born  in  Noyon, 
France,  July  10th,  1509,  a  man,  John  Calvin,  the 
influence  of  whose  philosophy  did  more  to  make 
America  free,  and  to  found  its  government  upon  a 
representative  republic  based  upon  equal  suffrage,  , 
than  that  of  any  other  man.  He  builded  better  than 
he  knew  in  his  form  of  church  government.  The 
individual  congregation  is  the  base,  with  its  v/ill 
determined  and  its  officers  elected  by  universal 
suffrage;  next,  the  presbytery,  composed  of  pastors, 
ex-off icio,  and  ruling  Elders  selected  by  the  Sess- 
ions of  the  various  congregations  composing  it, and, 
third  and  last,  is  the  General  Synod,  or  Assembly, 
composed  of  representatives  chosen  by  the  various 
presbyteries c  Thus  we  have  a  representative, 
federal  republic,  based  upon  local  self  government. 
That  is  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  Calvin  con- 
ceived it,  and  that  is  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  it 
is  today,  and  stated  in  ultimate  terms,  it  is  what 
our  National  Government  is  today ♦ 

This  great  theologian  and  philosopher  "was  of 
middle  stature;  his  complexion  was  somewhat  pallid 
and  dark.  His  eyes,  to  the  latest  clear  and  lus- 
trous, bespoke  the  acumen  of  his  genius.  He  v/as 
sparing  in  his  food  and  simple  in  his  dress  ;he  took 
but  little  sleep ^  and  v/as  capable  of  extraordinary 


-2- 


efforts  of  inte3ilectual  toil^  He  had  a  most  re- 
tentive memory  and  very  keen  power  of  observat- 
ion. He  spoke  without  rhetoric,  simply, directly, 
but  v/ith  great  v/eight.  He  had  many  acquaintances, 
but  few  close  friends.  His  private  character  was 
in  harmony  with  his  public  reputation  and  position. 
If  somewhat  severe  and  irritable,  he  was  at  the 
same  time  scrupulously  just,  truthful  and  stead- 
fast. He  never  deserted  a  friend  or  took  an  unfair 
advantage  of  an  antagonist,  and  on  fitting  occas- 
ion he  could  be  cheerful  and  even  facetious  among 
his  intimates.  It  is  said  of  him,   'God  gave  him 
a  character  of  great  majesty,'  and  Beza  said,  'I 
have  been  a  witness  of  him  for  sixteen  years,  and 
I  think  I  am  fully  entitled  to  say  that  in  this 
man  there  was  exhibited  to  all  an  example  of  the 
life  and  death  of  the  Christian,        such  as  it 
will  not  be  easy  to  depreciate,  such  as  it  will 
not  be  easy  to  emulate.*" 

He  wrote  his  Institutes  when  he  was  only  26 
years  of  age.  Of  this,  the  Ency.  Brit,  says,  "It 
may  be  doubted  if  the  history  of  literature  pre- 
sents us  with  another  instance  of  a  book  written 
at  so  early  an  age,  which  has  exercised  such  a 
prodigious  influence  upon  the  opinions  and  prac- 
tices both  of  contemporaries  and  of  posterity." 
And  again,  "His  system  had  an  immense  value  in 
the  history  of  Christian  thought.  It  appealed  to 
and  evoked  a  high  order  of  intelligence,  and  its 
insistence  on  perscnal  individual  salvation  has 
borne  worthy  fruit.  3o  also  its  insistence  on 
the  chief  end  of  man,  'to  know  and  do  the  will  of 
God,  '  made  for  the  strenuous  morality  that  helped 
to  build  up  the  modern  v;orld.  Its  effects  are  most 
clearly  seen  in  Scotland,  in  Puritan  England,  and 
in  the  New  England  States,  but  its  influence  was 
and  is  felt  among  peoples  that  have  little  desire 
or  claim  to  be  called  Calvinist." 

John  Kno'X,  his  co-laborer,  and  if  not  his  dis- 
ciple, certainly  in  thorough  accord  with  him, 
carried  this  Calvinistic  philosophy  to  Scotland 
and  to  England.  There  it  took  root,  flourished 
and  attained  a  vigorous  growth.  No  single  influence. 


-3- 


to  the  present  day^  has  more  affected  the  character 
cf  the  peoples  of  those  countries  and  their  descend- 
ants in  other  lands  o   It  v/as  the  direct  cause  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Commonwealth^  under  Cromv/ell^ 
It  contributed  scarcely  less  to  the  Revolution  of 
1688^  by  which  the  power  of  the  monarch  v/as  limit- 
ed and  adequate  safeguards  were  provided  for  the 
liberties  and  private  rights  of  the  subject. 

At  one  time  in  France^,  toO;,        Calvin^ s  doctrine 
bade  fair  to  te  received  by  a  majority  of  the 
common  people.  In  that  country  was^  hov/ever^  an 
all  pov/erful  Roman  Hierarchy;,   supported  by  an  ab- 
solute monarch.  Both  of  these  soon  realized  that 
Calvinism  was  their  deadly  foe,  and  that  neither 
of  them,  could  long  exist,  if  the  French  people 
became  thoroughly  indoctrinated  with  its  tenets* 
So  from  the  nature  of  things  there  must  be  a  life 
and  death  struggle  between  these  opposing  principles. 
All  the  weapons  of  absolute  pov/er  v/ere  then  wielded 
against  Calvinism^  that  it  might  be  destroyed^root 
and  branch;,  even  to  the  culminating  atrocities  of 
the  m.assacre  of  St.  Bartholom.ew  and  the  •  • 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  ^  and  thus  the 
soberest  and  best  citizenry  of  that  country  were 
either  slain  or  driven  to  foreign  climes.  I  have 
alv/ays  felt  that  had  the  leaven  of  Calvinism  been 
permitted^  in  france,  to  leaven the  whole  lump  of 
its  population;,  the  history  of  the  world  since 
would  have  been  v/holly  changed. 

I  have  not  time    or  space  to  trace  the  migration 
of  Calvinists  from  the . old  to  the  new  worlds  nor 
have  I  time  to  set  out  its  causes  and  its  provo- 
cation. I  can  deal  only  with  its  results  along 
large  lines.  Freedom  of  conscience;^  religious 
freedom  in  its  broad  sense,  v/as  the  principal  im- 
pulse to  this  migrationo  Their  faith  had  been 
tried  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  persecution^  yet  it 
*'had  no  huj^tc''  Instead,  it  had  become  fixed^more 
vital  and  so  more  vivifying, 

V/e  soon  find  them  in  possession  of  and  dominat- 
ing the  v/hole  of  Nev/  England.  V/e  find  them  spread 
over  western  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland;,  Piedmont 


/ 


4- 


Virginia,  North  Carolina^  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  The  Huguenot  hranch  of  this  migration 
came  to  New  Jersey,  Delav/are  and  South  Carolina^, 
while  smaller  colonies  of  them  were  to  be  found 
in  Pennsylvania,  Vl?:'giniap  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  The  influence  of  these  was  greater  than 
their  numbers ^     To  Nev/  York  came  many  Dutch  Cal- 
vinists,  and  in  the  colonies  south  of  Nev/  York 
to  South  Carolina,  were  smaller  settlements  of 
these  religionists,  ^i^/hat  I  have  said  elsewhere 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  is  applicable  to  all  these 
Calvinist  immigrants, 

"The  church  and  the  school  house  have  always 
been,  and  alv/ays  will  be,  the  mainstay  of  this 
admirable  race.  They  realized,  as  few  other 'races 
of  men    have  realized  it,  that  the  church  without 
the  school  house  was  a  fosterer  of  superstition, 
v/hile  the  school  house  without  the  chujr^ch  was  a 
promoter  of  irreligion  and  infidelity.  So,  close 
by  their  churches  they  built  their  school  houses, 
and  over  the  doors  of  both  they  inscribed  in 
living  letters,  ^The  Lord  He  is  God.'     This,  it 
seems  to  m.e,  is  the  key  to  their  character  and 
the  secret  of  their  greatness*" 

No  less  applicable  to  them,  too,  is  the  vivid 
language  of  Froude  in  describing  the  influence 
of  John  Knox  over  the  character  of  the  Scotch: 
"No  grander  figure  can  be  found  in  the  entire  his- 
tory of  the  Reformation  in  this  island  than  that 
of  Knox  -  the  one  man  v/ithout  v/hom  Scotland,  as 
the  modern  worldhas  knov/n  it,  would  have  had  no 
existence,  Kis  was  the  voice  which  taught  the 
peasant  of  the  Lothians  that  he  was  a  free  man, 
the  equal  in  the  sight  of  God  of  the  proudest 
peer  or  prelate  that  had  trampled  .on  his  f  ore- 
' fathers.    He  was  the  one  antagonist  v/hom  Mary 
Stuart  could  not  soften,  nor  Maitland  deceive; 
he  it  v;as  that  raised  the  poor  Commons  of  this 
country  into  a  stern  and  rugged  people,  who  might 
be  hard,  narrow,  superstitious  and  fanatical,  but 
v/ho  nevertheless  v/ere  men  whom  neither  king^ 
noble  nor  priest  could  force  again  to  submit  to 
tyranny." 


-5- 


The  College  of  NEW  JERSEY,  located  at 
Princeton,  was  at  this  time  a  training  school  for 
Presbyterian  ministers,  under  Dr.  Samuel  Davies, 
and  later,  1768,  under  Dr.  John  Wither spoon,  a 
descendant  of  John  Knox^  These  young  preachers 
went  into  the  outlying  settlements,   first  as 
traveling  missionaries,  and  later,  as  located 
pastors.  Their  coming  meant  much  more  than  a 
series  of  sermons  at  certain  set  and  stated  times.. 
It  meant  the  erection  of  school  houses  where  they 
had  not  been  before,  and  the  training  of  the 
youth  of  the  country  in  all  that  v^ould  render^ 
them  useful  men  and  women.  It  meant  the  selection 
by  the  people  themselves  of  a  competent  leader 
and  adviser  in  all  the  higher  and  better  things 
of  life*  Says  Dr.  Raper,  "These  bright , vigorous 
and  independent  men  brought  with  them  ideas  which 
have  exercised  the  profoundest  influence  upon  all 
phases  of  our  life  and  thought  -  upon  our  religion^ 
our  politics,  our  industry  and  our  education. They 
deserve  at  the  hands  of  the  historian  and  at  the 
hands  of  our  people  a  thousand  times  more  con- 
sideration and  veneration  than  we  have  ever  though-:, 
to  pay  them." 

Presbyterianism  then  has  been  at  all  times  a 
protest  against  the  assumptions  of  priest  craft 
on  one  hand  and  the  tyranny  of  kings  and  lords  on 
the  other.  Indeed,  from  the  very  nature  of  things, 
where  Presbyterianism  and  the  principles  upon 
v/hich  it  is  founded  are  dominant,  there  can  be  no 
tyranny     *of  church  or  state.  Where  they  are  not 
so  strong,  this  great  hearted  minority  would  prefer 
death  or  expatriation  to  submission.  Vlhen  then 
Great  Britain  assumed  the  right,  which  the  people 
of  this  country  were  not  willing  to  yield  to  her, 
of  taxation  without  representation,  these  Presby- 
terians who  had  been  so  indoctrinated  v/ith  the  • 
right  of  representation  as  embodied  in  their  form 
of  church  government,  were  the  most  vigorous  of 
protesters  against  this  form  of  tyranny,  and  were 
the  first  v/hen  their  demands  were  not  granted  to 
urge  complete  separation  from  the  mother  country 
and  absolute  independence  for  themselves.  They 
endured  with  utmost  stanchness  tte   sufferings  and 
privations,  the  reverses  and  hope  deferred,  of  the 


-6- 


succeeding  long  drawn  out  years  of  conflict, and 
v/hen  victory  came,  turned  their  thoughts  to  the 
organization  of  a  more  permanent  form  of  govern- 
ment • 

I  must  not  be  understood  to  claim  that  the 
makers  of  the  Federal  Constitution  derived  any 
conscious  aid  from  the  plan  of  government  pe- 
culiarly the  heritage  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
There  are  striking  likenesses  betv/een  the  two 
plans  in  broad  outline,  but  there  are  also  minor 
differences  v/hen  they  are  examined  in  detail. 
The  Convention  of  1787  realized  fully  that  the 
Constitution  it  was  making,  to  be  acceptable  to 
the  people,  must  embody  in  it  their  traditions, 
their  customs  and  their  laws.  It  had  come  almost 
to  an  impasse  in  considering  the  great  problem, 
how  to  create  a  national  government  strong  enough  . 
to  be  effective  in  its  sphere  of  action,  without 
impairing  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  states, 
v;hen  Benjamin  Franklin  arose  and  said  that  the 
longer  he  had  lived  the  more  convincing  proofs 
he  has  seen  of  the  truth  that  God  governs  in  the 
affairs  of  men.     If  a  sparrow  can  not  fall  to 
the  ground  without  His  notice,  it  is  not  probable 
that  an  Empire  could  arise  without  His  aid.  Sec- 
onded by  Roger  Sherman,  he  now  moved  that  hence- 
forth the  business  of  the  Convention  should  be 
opened  every  morning  with  prayer.    The  fragment- 
ary record  does  not  .  show  that  the  suggestion  was 
adopted,  but  it  was  a  recognition  by  these  great 
men  of  a  cardinal  principle  of  Presby terianism, 
the  Superintending  Providence  of  the  Almighty  in  . 
all  the  affairs  of  men  and  nations »  The  differ- 
ences in  the  Convention  were  soon  reconciled, 
v;ith  the  result  that  a  Senate  was  provided  for 
which  represented  the  States  and  a  House,  which 
represented  the  people.  This  is  a  reflection  to 
some  degree  of  the  Presbyterian  System  -  the 
people  represented  in  the  churches  and  presby- 
teries,  and  the  presbyteries  in  the  General 
Assembly. 

Again,  when  individuals  are  subjected  to  the  in- 
fluence of  great  principles,  they  react  upon 


-7- 


them,  and  are  reflected  in  their  habit  of  thought 
and  in  their  conduct.  They,  thus,  become  instinct- 
ive ideas  to  the  individual,  upon  which  he  sub- 
consciously acts.  In  this  sense  the  influence  of 
the  Presbyterian  form  of  government  upon  the  Con- 
vention of  1787  may  have  been  great,  hov/  great, 
we  have  no  m.eans  of  determining.  We  do  know  that 
many  of  its  members  were  Presbyterian,  or  had  been 
subjected  to  Presbyterian  influence • 

Having  thus  seen  the  large  part  that  Presbyter- 
ianism  played  in  the  securing  of  our  liberties  and 
the  establishment  of  our  government  upon  a  firm 
basis,  what  part  is  it  to  play  in  the  future 
against  the  foes  of  both?    If  it  is  to  be  a  great 
part  it  must  hold  fast    to  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints.  It  may  adopt  the  machinery  of 
modern  life,  but  its  faith  must  not  be  dimmed  by 
its  materialism^  or  its  intelligence  beclouded  by 
its  fallacies.     It  must  remember  that  while  it 
is  its  duty  to  take  part  in  every  good  word  and 
work,  that  is  not  its  main  mission,  for,  to  it, as 
the  Bride  of  Christy  the  Saviour,,  are  commit'cea 
the  Oracles  of  God,  Here,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
point  of  danger  for  the  Church  at  the  present 
time  and  for  the  future.  Religion  is  not  a  system 
of  morals,  it  is  not  a  philosophy,  it  is  not  a 
science,  but  it  is  a  conscious  relation  betv/een 
man  and  God,  and  the  expression  of  that  relation 
in  human  conduct. 

The  existence  of  this  relationship  manifests 
itself,  first,  in  the  due  and  loving  performance 
of  one's  obligations  to  his  fellov/  man;  second, 
in  the  due  and  loving  performance  of  one^s  obli- 
gations to  God  the  Creator,  to  God  the  Saviour, 
and  to  God  the  Comforter ^  and  Sustainer:  thirv.., 
but  greatest  of  all,  the  performance  of  God's 
obligations  to  His  creature  and  servant.     In  the 
first  instance  this  relationship  is  moral;  in  the 
second,  it  is  spiritual,  and  in  the  third,  it  is 
mystical.     In  the  last  instance  is  most  seen  the 
insidious  and  corrosive  effect  of  modern  brutally 
frank  materialistic  literature  upon  churches  and 
church  members.  A  religion  that  has  not  its 


-8~ 

miracles  and  its  mysteries  is  not  a  religion  at 
all,  but  a  philosophy.  The  man  v/ho  views  the 
phenomena  of  life  only  from  thie  standpoint  of 
their  material  manifestations,  can  stand  on  no 
common  ground  with  the  Christian.  As  v/ell  expect 
sympathy  between  the  mole,  which  in  darkness 
pursues  his  subterranean  v/ay,  and  the  bird  that 
from  the  topmost  bough    of  some  tal  1  tree  greets 
the  rising  sun  with  his  song  of  praise »  The 
mole  can  not  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  sun, 
because  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  nature  that  come 
v/ithin  his  ken  do  not  show  its  existence, but  the  ' 
bird  knov/s  that  there  is  a  sun,  because  it  has 
experienced  the  enlivening  warmth  of  its  rays. 
Ah,  those  old  Presbyterians,  our  ancestors,  call 
them  hard  and  narrow  and  superstitious  if  You 
v/ill,  yet  with  their  ^'Thus  saith  the  Lord^  '  they 
solved  the  riddle  of  time  and  eternity. To  them, 
life  was  a  walking  in  the  fear  of  "  God.  To  them, 
death  was  its  final  sacrament,  in  v/hich  Christ, 
the  Saviour,    v/as  to  keep  His  part  of  the  covenant, 
so  they  met  it  v/ith  the  sublime  but  childlike 
faith  of  John,  the  Revealer,  or  of  David,  the- 
Shepherd  King, 


N.C    204    299A    v. 1  nos.1-23 


CALL  NUMBER 


^ 


VoL 


Date  (for  periodical) 


204    299A    v.l  nos.1-23 

303286 


